Autonomy

So, people seem to be changing their minds....

What do you think?

Thirty one percent of those polled said climate change was "definitely" happening, while 29% said it "it's looking like it could be a reality", and another 31% said the problem was exaggerated, a category which rose by 50% compared to a year ago. Only 6% said climate change was not happening at all, and 3% said they did not know.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...f-climate-poll

littlejimmy

The scientists (who are around 95% in agreement on AGW) are losing the PR battle. People are more willing to listen to the likes of Jeremy Clarkson.

The Dean

It's more than just celebs - there's a serious and rapidly-growing scientific community questioning the whole idea that we are warming the planet up........

Example: the polar ice caps are receding in area, but thickening........ nobody that I've heard or read about can explain that.

More work needed by scientists with open minds.............

seven seas

That's not very strange at all:
1- people are being misled by misinformation by the likes of EXXON, who actually hired PR gaencies to create and promote fake grassroots organisations

2- dummies are easily fooled by a few cold days , they resort to Sun=reasoning and say "So where's the GW?"

3- Humans will tend to believe whatever makes them most comfortable.

DesertOcean

Well Worth Watching-HEAT!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/heat/view/

MacScot

..yes, mostly from "global warming" to "climate change"

seven seas

I've got the book by Monbiot .

kittycat1

The problem with global warming/climate change is that it isn't a popular subject with the public- everyone feels sorry for the polar bears as we watch the ice caps melt, and thousands of people die in 'natural' tragedies, but is anyone willing to change their lifestyle to change things- in reality the answer is no. Noone wants to take responsibility and accept that they can help change things. We have become used to a luxurious lifestyle and the idea of giving up our way of life is not a popular one- so in theory everyone would like to be more green but in reality few people do anything to change their lifestyles. The goverments aren't interested as any changes they make would involve taxing the general public more and making significant changes to our lifestyles which would result in them being voted out.

Jo Public complains but at the end of the day we are a greedy, arrogant race that is too selfish to do anything about it. I'd say it's more that people don't want to know about it- ignorance is bliss and all that and the sad thing is a few people can't stop this- it needs everyone to be on board and accept that personal luxuries will have to be given up whether it be now through choice or in years to come when no longer have any choice.

I'd recommend going through Greenpeaces website- http://www.greenpeace.org/internatio...climate-change there is no excuse to be ignaorant in this day and age, everyone has access to the internet yet we all carry on abusing the planet, it's easier to carry on living our disposable lifestyles than to actually work at creating a healthier planet.

Steps away from the soapbox!

Kittycat
x

Roadking

Made from sustainable wood, I hope!

lionheart

So sayeth Joanne Public, who had just forked out on a brand spanking new mammoth sized TV

kittycat1

I didn't say I was any better than anyone else- my carbon footprint is like a mens size 11- jsut pointing out why we are doomed- doomed I tell you- DOOMED....

I am a member of greenpeace and Amnesty International though! It helps me sleep at night...

Roadking

Yeah, me too. Listening to them drone on really works when I can't sleep.


hehehehehehe

Jeeper

Maybe humanity is meant to f'ck up the planet?

A different point of view maybe but....everyone seems to think the actions of humans are not natural....we are seperate from nature.

I am starting to think that much like the beaver messes up their environment by building dams (for their own benefit but to the detriment on anything living in the flood zone) that we humans are doing similar.
Sure - it's on a much bigger sacle....but it's not much different.
And sure, a differentiator is that we have the intelliegence to realise the result of our actions....but they are still natural actions of a natural species, actions that are normal to that species (development, growth, advances in knowledge, science, medicine, birth etc)...all natural as a result of our intelligence.

Perhaps it's our natural destiny to kill ourselves off. Throughout history species have come into existance and later dissapeared....it's an ongoing cycle which I don't think we are above.

Sure, we could (as a species) pick a point in time where we had no recognisable impact on our envirnment (interesting to see how far back we would have to go...) and go back to living like that and not change anything, not develop industry, transportatation, not develop life extending medicines, not develop birthrates etc etc etc....but that would be completely unnatural to us.....it is natural for humans to explore, discover and develop. We are acting in a completely normal way.....just like the beaver.

If we knock ourselves off as a species and take others with us....who is to say that isn't normal?

"If you want things to stay the same, then things will have to change".

littlejimmy

I agree with a lot of that. Humans have come to think they are somehow exempt from the laws of nature and that we have dominion over the planet and all the other creatures on it, when in fact we will probably be shaken off like fleas by Mother Earth one day.

A very good book on how this came about is "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn.

Jeeper

http://aylluinitiative.files.wordpre...h-to-20501.jpg

Not much point in reducing greenhouse gases by targets of 20% or whatever by 2050 when global population increases by over 166% thru the same period.

Yr 2000 - 6 billion produce 'X' tonnes of such gas = Xtonnes
Yr 2050 - 10 billion produce '(X-20%) x 166% = 1.33 Xtonnes

We, as a democratic society, will NEVER take steps to control population...and I think it's that alone which will determine how long humanity exists.